Island



(No Model.)

J. H. FAIRBANKS.

Shifting Top for Carriages. No.237,507. Patented Feb. s, 1881.

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NITED STATES PATENT rFicE.

JAMES H. FAIRBANKS, OF LINCOLN, RHODE ISLAND.

SHIFTING TOP FOR CARRIAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 237,507, dated February 8, 1881.

Application filed J une 28, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. FAIRBANKS, of the town of Lincoln, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shifting Tops for Carriages; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings that accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

My invention relates to that class of carriages in which the top is tilted horizontally backward and forward over the seat.

The object of the invention is to furnish an easy means of attachment or detachment when it is sought to shift the top, and to provide simple and reliable devices Wherewith to hold the same securely to the carriage or to the seat thereof when attached thereto. The devices employed for such purpose are a compound lever composed of oneprineipal lever and two subordinate levers, and hooks or ratchets formed at the end of short rods, which are attached to the frame that supports the top and extend through to the bottom side of the seat.

The subordinate levers engage with the hooks to hold the top in its proper place on the carriage. This device differs from that described in Letters Patent of .the United States numbered 59,014 in this, that the attachment or detachment of the top to the carriage is accomplished through the levers, and that through a single operation.

- Figure 1 is an elevation of a carriage-seat, showing supports for the top attached thereto, (indicated in broken lines.) Fig. 2 is a plan of an inverted seat, showing the position of the compound lever, with the T-levers engaging with the hooks'or ratchets that are attached to the short rods extending through to the bottom or reverse side of the seat. Fig. 3 is a plan of an inverted seat, showing the same devices of Fig 2, the T-levers being disengaged from the hooks. Fig. 4 is an enlarged section of Fig. 1, in which is shown the form of the hooks and the manner of connecting the short rod with the top of the carriage.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, A is a bar or (No model.)

simple lever, which vibrates on the pivot or bolt 1). Attached to said lever A are other simple levers, G and D, which are secured thereto by means of set-screws or bolts 0 and f. The levers O and D are T-shaped, with a curve in the part attached to the lever A, for the purpose of simultaneously engaging or disengaging with the hooks H at each end of the cross-piece, the said hooks being in a line parallel with the edge of the seat. The setscrews or pins 0 and fare about equidistant from the pivot or bolt b toward the opposite ends of the lever A, and are the fulcra on which the levers (J and D are operated. The cross-piece or top of the T-lever is, near its opposite ends, provided with slots 61, through which screws or pins pass into the seat of the carriage. The purpose of these pins and slots is to serve as guides to the levers O and D as they are shifted backward and forward to engage or disengage with the hooks H.

Short rods 10 are attached to the frame that supports the top, and terminate in hooks or ratchets H. These rods extend through the seat and are usually arranged in a rectangular form near the four corners of the same, while a tifth rod may be used centrally in the back of the seat, as shown in Fig. 1. With the hook in this latter rod the principal lever A engages. A tension-spring, s, is employed to avoid the liability of the lever A from shifting, and thereby releasing the hold on the hooks H.

Rubber, leather, or other cushions may be used under the levers to avoid noise or rattling incident to jarring when the carriage is in use.

The position of the lever A when the top is on the carriage is in a line nearly parallel with the two ends of the seat, and located nearly equidistant from each end, as shown in Fig. 2. When the top is off or the levers disengaged from the hooks H, the lever A then lies obliquely across the bottom side of the seat, as shown in Fig. 3.

To remove the top from the carriage, disengage all the levers from the hooks, which is done by turning the lever A obliquely across the seat, as shown in Fig. 3. This will release them from the hooks H, and the top may then be lifted from the seat. Reversing the motion a simple lever to which they are pivoted, and short rods with book ends arranged near the four corners and centrally in the back of the seat, the levers arranged to engage with the hooks, substantially as specified.

JAMES H. FAIRBANKS.

Witnesses:

J OHN HAMSBOTTOM, R. B. AVERrLL. 

